In what will be one of the most remembered inaugural speeches in US history President Barack Obama urged the unity of all the people to restore an image of America as democratic and to overcome the troubles that face it. Mixing jeremiad with poetry, sermon with history lesson, he emphasized a new philosophy for measuring prosperity and outlined a new foreign policy based on building alliances and cooperation.

In doing so, Obama broke forcefully with the policies of the Bush administration and the partisan squabbling of Washington.

'On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord,' he noted in a reference to the exploitation of terror and fear by the Bush administration to push policy and win elections.

'On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics,' he added forcefully.

Instead, forging a new path forward is what is needed, Obama indicated. 'The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.'

Obama celebrated working Americans with stirring rhetoric. 'Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less,' he stated. 'It has not been the path for the faint-hearted – for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk takers, the doers, the makers of things – some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.'

Working people, often immigrant families, built America, fought its wars, and made the expansion of civic participation and democracy possible. 'Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life,' he continued. 'They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.'

Despite the economic crisis, the two wars overseas, and the threat to democracy posed, Obama went on, 'we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.'

'For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act – not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth,' Obama pledged. 'We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.'

Obama further broke with the free-market fundamentalism of the Bush administration and the ultra right and outlined a more inclusive philosophy. 'The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works – whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.'

Trickle down economics are faulty and a poor measure of prosperity, he suggested. 'Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control – and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart – not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.'

On the issue of civil liberties and the use of torture, Obama thoroughly rejected the 'false the choice between our safety and our ideals,' citing those idelas as fundamental to the origins of the US. 'Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake.'

On the global front, Obama reasserted a new 'Obama doctrine.' 'We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet.' Terrorist groups will be given no quarter, he added.

Being able to reach out to the world begins with understanding who we are and embracing our differences. 'For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus – and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.'

Obama addressed other people across the globe. 'To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West – know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.'

In what was the most direct statement of a new Obama doctrine, Obama offered an alternative to Bush's delineation of friend and foe based on evil and goodness, i.e. bending to the will of Washington. 'To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.'

Obama linked the first statements about its basic philosophies and aims to nothing less than to America's revolutionary past. 'In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people: 'Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive ... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it].''

With nothing less than a poetic urgency, Obama added, 'America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.'